The C# Station Tutorial

by Joe Mayo, 12/9/00, 12/8/01

Lesson 8:  Class Inheritance

This lesson teaches about C# Inheritance.  Our objectives are as follows:

Inheritance is one of the primary concepts of object-oriented programming.  It allows you to reuse existing code.  Through effective employment of reuse, you can save time in your programming.

Listing 8-1.  Inheritance:  BaseClass.cs

using System;

public class ParentClass
{
    public ParentClass()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Parent Constructor.");
    }

    public void print()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("I'm a Parent Class.");
    }
}

public class ChildClass : ParentClass
{
    public ChildClass()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Child Constructor.");
    }

    public static void Main()
    {
        ChildClass child = new ChildClass();

        child.print();
    }
}

Output:

Parent Constructor.
Child Constructor.
I'm a Parent Class.

Listing 8-1 shows two classes.  The top class is named ParentClass and the main class is called ChildClass.  What we want to do is create a child class, using existing code from ParentClass.

First we must declare our intention to use ParentClass as the base class of ChildClass.  This is accomplished through the ChildClass declaration "public class ChildClass : ParentClass".  The base class is specified by adding a colon, ":", after the derived class identifier and then specifying the base class name.

C# supports single class inheritance only.  Therefore, you can specify only one base class to inherit from.

ChildClass has exactly the same capabilities as ParentClass.  Because of this, you can also say ChildClass "is" a ParentClass.  This is shown in the Main() method of ChildClass when the print() method is called.  Child class does not have it's own print() method, so it uses the ParentClass print() method.  You can see the results in the 3rd line of output.

Base classes are automatically instantiated before derived classes.  Notice the output from Listing 8-1.  The ParentClass constructor executed before the ChildClass constructor.

Listing 8-2.  Derived Class Communicating with Base Class:  BaseTalk.cs

using System;

public class Parent

    string parentString;

    public Parent()

    public Parent(string myString)

    public void print()

public class Child : Parent

    public Child() : base("From Derived")

    public new void print()

        base.print();

    public static void Main()

        Child child = new Child();

Output:

From Derived
Child Constructor.
I'm a Parent Class.
I'm a Child Class.
I'm a Parent Class.

Derived classes can communicate with base classes during instantiation.  Listing 8-2 shows how this is done at the child constructor declaration.  The colon, ":", and keyword base call the base class constructor with the matching parameter list.  The first line of output shows the base class constructor being called with the string "From Derived".

Sometimes you may want to create your own implementation of a method that exists in a base class.  The Child class does this by declaring it's own print() method.  The Child print() method hides the Parent print method.  The effect is the Parent print method will not be called, unless we do something special to make sure it's called.

Inside the Child print() method, we explicitly call the Parent print() method.  This is done by prefixing the method name with "base.".  Using the "base" keyword, you can access any of a base class' public or protected class members.  The output from the Child print() method is on output lines 3 and 4.

Another way to access base class members is through an explicit cast.  This is done in the last statement of the Child class Main() method.  Remember that a derived class is a specialization of it's base class.  This fact allows us to perform a conversion on the derived class, making it an instance of it's base class.  The last line of output from Listing 8-2 shows the Parent print() method was indeed executed.

Notice the "new" modifier on the Child class print() method.  This enables this method to hide the Parent class print() method, thus explicitly preventing polymorphism.  Without the "new" modifier, the compiler will produce a warning to draw your attention to this.  See the next lesson for a detailed discussion of polymorphism.

In summary, you know how to create a derived/base class relationship.  You can control instantiation of your base class and call it's methods either implicitly or explicitly.  You also understand that a derived class is a specialization of it's base class.

I invite you to return for Lesson 9:  Polymorphism.

Your feedback is very important and I appreciate any constructive contributions you have. Please feel free to contact me for any questions or comments you may have about this lesson.

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